An angry fan of the New Orleans Saints has filed a lawsuit against the team asking them to reimburse his cost of season tickets and court cost. The fan, Lee Dragna of Morgan City, La, is seeking roughly $8,000. The cause of the dispute is his disdain for the player protests that has been a major focus over the last two seasons.

​The New Orleans Advocate reports that Dragna filed a lawsuit in Louisiana’s 24th Judicial District Court on Monday, demanding a refund for his tickets plus legal fees, claiming the protesting players have prevented he and his family from enjoying the games.

Dragna attended the Saints’ home opener this year, against New England, when he says some players were not on the field during the anthem. He has not been to a game since.
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According to the suit, when players did come onto the field before the game with the Patriots, “they passed directly in front of where the petitioner and his guests were seated. Many of the fans in that area booed and cursed at the Saints players.

“Apparently, these players were following the lead of [former 49ers quarterback] Colin Kaepernick by disrespecting the flag, the anthem, the USA and those who have served and are serving the USA in our military.”
​Dragna told The Advocate on Tuesday that the behavior of other fans who are also upset at players protesting, such as cursing and spilling beer, is “borderline dangerous.”

Dragna, as you’d suspect, disagrees with the protests. He says his legal action against the team isn’t for show, calling it “as honest as it gets.”

“They don’t even want to talk about this, but I don’t care,” he said. “One way or another they’ll pay.”

Danica Patrick is saying goodbye to professional racing. Patrick officially announced her retirement from auto racing earlier today (Nov. 17). She plans on racing in next year's Daytona 500 (NASCAR) and Indianapolis 500 (IndyCar) only.

"I feel like this is where my life should be headed, and sometimes we just get kind of nudged there," Patrick said. "Sometimes it's big nudges and sometimes it's little."

Patrick has known for at least a month that she will end her career next season at the Indianapolis 500, a decision that will bring her full circle and return her one last time to the storied track that made her famous. Discussing her decision with The Associated Press a few hours before her announcement, Patrick was giddy with excitement and thrilled at the chance to take one more spin around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Patrick is the only woman to have led laps in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. Patrick ran the Indy 500 from 2005 through 2011. Her highest finish was third in 2009, and she was the first woman to lead laps in the race when she paced the field for 19 trips around the Brickyard as a rookie.

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are married! The tennis superstar and Reddit co-founder wed in an intimate ceremony on Thursday at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, according to multiple reports.

Williams and Ohanian’s nuptials come less than three months after the tennis champion gave birth to their daughter, Alexis. It’s the first child for the pair, who began dating in 2015 after a chance run-in in Rome.

ESPN is launching a new SportsCenter show on Snapchat. The show, SportsCenter on Snapchat, premiered Monday (Nov. 13) at 5 p.m. ET.

Future episodes will be released each weekday at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. and on weekends at 5 a.m. Just like the original SportsCenter, the Snapchat show will offer a mix of sports news and highlights. But each episode will be less than five minutes and will offer up the news in a more casual way.
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The show is Snapchat’s first daily sports show. The first episode was hosted by Emmy-winning sports personality Katie Nolan, who recently joined ESPN. Other upcoming hosts include Elle Duncan, Cassidy Hubbarth, Jason Fitz and Cy Amundson.

ESPN was an original Snapchat Discover launch partner two years ago, producing publisher stories for the platform. Those stories are now transitioning into the SportsCenter shows.

As part of the new show arrangement, ESPN will retire its daily edition, the magazine-like channels that publishers use to share individual stories and videos to Snapchat’s audience. Snapchat and ESPN will split advertising revenue sold alongside the new mini versions of SportsCenter, and ESPN will sell all of the ad inventory, according to two sources familiar with the agreement. The deal is good for two years.

Major League Baseball announced the winners of the Rookie of the Year awards for both leagues today. In the American League, the honor went to New York Yankee right fielder Aaron Judge. The National League awarded the honor to Los Angeles Dodger first baseman Cody Bellinger. Both choices were unanimous.

Judge is the first Yankee to win the award since Derek Jeter in 1996. Judge's 52 home runs lead the AL and helped the Yankees secure a wildcard berth in the Playoffs. Judge is also up for the AL MVP award, if he wins he will join Ichiro Suzuki (2001) and Fred Lynn (1975) to win both awards in the same season.

Bellinger broke the NL rookie record for home runs with 39 and finished second in the league behind only Giancarlo Stanton in homers. Bellinger led the Dodgers in RBIs (97) and runs (87) and supplied a left-handed bat in the heart of the order of a club that fell just one game short of winning the World Series.​

Over the past few weeks, the tension between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have gone into overdrive. Jones has been actively and very publicly trying to get his fellow owners to drop Goodell, and he even found a replacement. Jones has gone as far as threatening to sue the NFL if they approve a planned contract extension for Goodell. Today, the NFL's Compensation Committee has given Jones a cease-and-desist warning in response to the owner's threat of a lawsuit, according to the New York Times.

The committee issued the warning to Jones after holding a conference call Monday to discuss Goodell's potential extension, according to the Times.

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank released a statement Monday, saying that the committee is still working toward an extension for Goodell and disputing Jones' assertion that owners have been misled regarding "critical facts" about the negotiations.

​The Bulls, the City of Chicago and the NBA will announce Friday that Chicago will host the 2020 All-Star Game, a league source told ESPN.

The announcement will come at the United Center on Friday afternoon. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Bulls president and COO Michael Reinsdorf, Bulls executive vice president John Paxson and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel are all expected to be in attendance.
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This will mark the first time the Bulls host All-Star Weekend since 1988. Michael Jordan was the MVP of that game and also won the Slam Dunk Contest in a famous duel with Atlanta Hawks star Dominique Wilkins.

The trade deadline in the NFL is usually as boring as a three-and-out, but the 2017 season has been very different. This year has produced a slew of surprising moves along with the usual dumping of an aging veteran with a huge expiring contract. Below is a look at every trade so far. ​

This is one of the biggest surprises. The Panthers are still in the hunt in the NFC South and Kelvin Benjamin is one of Cam Newtons favorite targets. ​Benjamin will be reunited with Bills coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane, both of whom used to work in Carolina. His arrival also gives quarterback Tyrod Taylor a No. 1 receiver after Buffalo dealt away top receiver Sammy Watkins in August. Without Watkins, the the team's receivers have caught 45 passes for 594 yards, the lowest totals for that position group in the NFL. Benjamin has 32 catches for two touchdowns and a Panthers-best 475 yards this season.

Another surprise move, not just because of the trade but because of the price. A fourth rounder for a running back like Jay Ajayi. Philadelphia got some help for its running game and a replacement for the injured Darren Sproles, while the struggling Dolphins, coming off a 40-0 prime-time loss to the Ravens, get a valuable pick. Coach Adam Gase said last week that Miami was "the worst offense in football."​

With this trade it was basically the Patriots last chance to get something for Jimmy G. It seems like Tom Brady will be there for a few more years and they can't afford to franchise tag a back-up. Garoppolo will solve the riddle that has plagued the Niners for more than a decade. San Francisco is likely to keep Garoppolo, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, by signing him to a new deal or tagging him as their franchise player. That would mean Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins will have one fewer landing spot in free agency. Meanwhile, the Patriots seem to have bought into the idea that Tom Brady can play well into his 40s.

Brown spent his entire 10-year career with the Texans, who selected him in the first round in 2008 out of Virginia Tech. He returned last week from a holdout and played 68 out of 71 offensive snaps Sunday against Seattle. The Seahawks have been seeking upgrades to an offensive line that has lost two starters to injury. The trade for Brown marks another bold move by Seattle general manager John Schneider, who previously made deals for Marshawn Lynch in 2010, Percy Harvin in 2013 and Jimmy Graham in 2015.​

​The Jaguars have one of the worst run defenses in the NFL and are hoping the addition of Dareus will be enough to help them win the AFC South. Meanwhile, the Bills clear the salary of their highest-paid player off their books. The trade also reunites Dareus with Jacksonville coach Doug Marrone, who coached the Bills from 2013 to 2014.

Despite leading the Washington Nationals to back-to-back division titles, manager Dusty Baker will not be returning to the team next season. ​Baker’s contract expired after this season and the Nats said via a statement that he’s not getting a new one:

​Baker, 68, was the Nationals’ manager for two seasons. He won 97 games this season and 95 in 2016. But for a team that’s been chasing its first-ever win in a postseason series of any kind, Baker ultimately failed in the biggest task — getting the Nats over the postseason hump.

The Oakland Raiders have added a big piece to bolster their defense for the remainder of the season. Former San Francisco 49er linebacker NaVorro Bowman has agreed to a one year deal to join the team across the bay.

A four-time All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler, Bowman's sudden release came as a surprise. Reports are that he asked the 49ers for a trade last week, but it didn’t happen. When it didn’t work out as Bowman wanted, he requested to be released, and general manager John Lynch granted the request.

Bowman only played in four games last season, suffering a torn Achilles on Oct. 3, but had started San Francisco’s first five games this year, credited with 37 total tackles.